


clothe me in starlight

by RabbitTankSparkling



Series: P5 Girls Week 2021 [2]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Trans Female Character, genderfeels, it's a body positivity thing, kind of?, non-sexual nudity, there's nothing explicit, transgirl ann takamaki
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-17
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-26 12:01:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,125
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30105645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RabbitTankSparkling/pseuds/RabbitTankSparkling
Summary: Ann takes a step that's been a long time coming.
Relationships: Okumura Haru/Takamaki Ann
Series: P5 Girls Week 2021 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2213196
Comments: 3
Kudos: 20





	clothe me in starlight

**Author's Note:**

> P5 Girls' Week 2021, day 3! I chose Lace for today's prompt!
> 
> Honestly, writing trans ann is SO much fun, and haruann is a favorite rarepair of mine. I'll probably end up coming back to this in the future lol.

In Ann’s opinion, shopping was always best done with a companion. Having someone to bounce ideas off of and hear thoughts from was invaluable in the clothes-hunting process. A good co-shopper could talk you into something you liked, but weren’t sure about, or talk you _out_ of something you wanted but which didn’t gel with your style.

Haru, it turned out, was not a good co-shopper.

Okay, a lot of that was probably the girlfriend bias, but _still._ She thought Ann looked good in everything she tried on! How was she supposed to make a decision based on that!?

Ah well, it wasn’t like a minute spent with Haru could be anything less than amazing. The smaller girl was infinitely kind, eternally thoughtful, stalwartly dedicated, and so, so _pretty_.

Seriously, the way her auburn curls bounced when her head turned, the way the light caught her deep brown eyes sometimes, the way her cheeks dimpled when she smiled… well. It was enough to make Ann’s heart clench.

“Oooh, look at these!” Presently, Haru drew Ann’s attention to a store on the shopping mall’s main concourse, tugging her hand and gesturing to the display window, full of mannequins wearing--

\--Ah.

“These are absolutely gorgeous,” she cooed, examining the lingerie decorating the mannequins. Ann glanced over them, all lacy and decorative and _special,_ and felt her gaze repelled off them as she stared down at her shoes. Immediately, that familiar kind of special shame crept in, the kind that she’d known since she was a little child.

_That’s not FOR you,_ it said. _Why are you looking at it? Are you a freak? Do you want everyone to see you staring at it?_

And then alongside that was another, newer shame. One that spoke in softer tones and told her _you should be over this by now. You’ve been out for seven years. You’re a girl, aren’t you? Why can’t you act like one and look at some underwear at the store instead of buying it all online?_

“Ann-chan? Are you okay?” Ann jolted back to the present at Haru’s prodding, finding the smaller girl gazing up at her with worry writ plain across her face. “You’re all tense. Is something wrong?”

Ann’s eyes squeezed shut as she sucked a breath in through her teeth. There was part of her that tried to quash it down like so much else, but she thought better of it. Haru had been nothing but supportive of her since she’d come out to her, always there to lend an ear.

“It’s… I’ll tell you later,” Ann breathed after a moment. Haru’s gentle stroking of her arm genuinely did help to calm her down. “Let’s finish up shopping, okay?”

Haru’s soft little smile and nod couldn’t possibly have failed to put Ann back into a good mood.

* * *

“I guess part of me just feels like I don’t deserve that, y’know?” Ann paced back and forth across her living room while Haru sat primly on the couch, listening attentively. “Like, I _know_ I’m a girl, and I _know_ it should be fine, I’ve been out for almost half my life, but every time I walk past a store like that or even the _section_ for it in a department store I just… I feel so _guilty._ ”

“I see,” Haru mused, sipping on her tea. “Do you think it’s an exposure thing? The way you described your history with makeup?”

“Mmm, maybe? I don’t think so,” Ann responded. Her hand rested on her chin as she paced, before eventually flopping down across the couch. Haru giggled, gently pulling Ann’s head into her lap and working the blonde’s twintails loose.

“If it helps, I think I experienced something similar before I admitted to myself that I liked girls.” Haru spoke softly, carding her fingers through Ann’s mass of flax-golden hair, gently massaging her scalp near where the ponytails had been drawn tight, drawing out a languid exhale from the taller girl. “I’d worry sometimes that strangers would think I was shameless, somehow. Like it wasn’t perfectly normal for a girl to shop for that kind of thing.”

“I think that’s sorta it,” Ann murmured, relaxing into Haru’s touch. “It’s like my brain from before I came out is still telling me that if I look at that stuff, people will think it’s wrong.”

“What if we went in together?” Haru gently teased a knot out of Ann’s hair, nearly lulling her to sleep with the sensation of nails lightly tracing across her scalp. “Just the two of us? Or we could invite the other girls, if you’d prefer.”

“Just us would be good,” Ann mumbled, feeling herself starting to drift off. “Can we go somewhere that’s not here? Like, a couple districts away? It’d make me less anxious, I think.”

“Of course,” Haru whispered, leaning down to plant a delicate kiss on Ann’s forehead. “Anything for you.”

* * *

And _that_ was how Ann ended up in a lingerie store in Sunamachi, Haru squeezing her hand for reassurance as they browsed. She found herself settling after a while of just existing in the space, and eventually, they found their way to the fitting rooms. Ann stepped into a booth with a few prospective purchases in her arms, reluctant to let go of Haru’s hand at first. The smaller girl gave her one of those impossible-to-resist smiles, though, and Ann released her grasp.

In the locked privacy of the fitting room, the little things almost didn’t feel real under her fingers. She knew enough about clothes and fashion to tell how they were constructed, of course. Little streaks of lace and tulle accenting the curves of the cups, the arc that would lay across her hips. The rich blue Haru had suggested was a complement to her eyes, she knew, but some part of her was still nervous.

_...Ah, fuck it,_ she thought, remembering Haru waiting outside for her. Ann Takamaki was _not_ a quitter.

A minute later, she cracked the door open, gesturing for Haru to come in. She and Haru had seen each other in less clothes than this, but it still made her anxiety shoot through the roof, right up until Haru closed the door behind her and gazed up at Ann’s figure.

“You look _gorgeous,_ Ann.” Haru’s whisper was almost reverent, and Ann herself couldn’t help but flush at the praise and lack of honorific (Haru only dropped those for special occasions). She clasped her hands behind her back, sure she’d try to cover herself up if she didn’t.

“Y-you think?” Ann searched for that shame, that clawing wrongness that had plagued her, but found nothing. Only the warm glow of Haru’s smile.

“I do,” she answered definitively. And Ann really, truly believed her.


End file.
